The sport of bowling has experienced substantial improvements during the last few decades and has become one of the most popular indoor sports. For example, electro-mechanical equipment such as automatic pin setters, ball returns and electronic scoreboards have been developed and attention has also been directed to improving a participant's performance. An essential factor in improving a person's bowling game is developing a controlled delivery of the bowling ball. The delivery or release is controlled by the position and movement of various parts of the body with particular focus on the relative position of the hand, wrist and forearm.
As the ball is released, various motions are imparted to the ball which define its path of travel. A first component results from the planar motion defined by the swing of the arm, wrist, hand and ball toward the bowling pins. A second component results from a spinning motion imparted to the ball as it is released from the hand. After the ball is released, an initial sliding motion and rotational motion are imparted to the ball. After the sliding motion has been reduced by friction, only the rotational motion imparts a directional character to the ball. When the rotational directions resulting from the first component (a planar motion defined by the swing of the arm, hand, ball, etc.) and second component (a spinning motion imparted to the ball as it is released) do not coincide, the ball travels in a curved path. In attempting to regulate the degree of curvature, various types of bowling delivery have been developed in which the hand is positioned at different relative positions with respect to the ball as it is released. However, regardless of the type of delivery chosen, it is important to maintain a proper relationship between the forearm, wrist and hand as the ball is delivered, with particular focus on the tendency of the wrist to turn or twist.
Maintaining a proper relationship between the hand, wrist and forearm is especially difficult in view of the complexity of the muscular and skeletal structure of the human hand and wrist. For example, the wrist is composed of eight carpal bones arranged in two rows of four each. The set of carpal bones is connected to five metacarpal bones, which largely define the palmar region of the hand, and to the bones of the forearm, which include the ulna and the radius. The radius is attached to the thumb side or thenar side of the wrist and the ulna is attached to the "little finger" side or hypothenar side of the wrist, with the lower end of the ulna partially defined by a projection designated the styloid process, which is clearly visible at the base of the wrist on the back or posterior side of the forearm. Connected to the five metacarpal bones of the hand are the phalanges which define the four fingers, each including a distal, middle and proximate phalanx, and the thumb, which includes a distal and proximate phalanx. The bones of the hand are connected together with various ligaments, muscles and tendons through which complicated patterns of nerves and blood vessels are located. Therefore, for a person to develop a consistent delivery it is necessary to maintain the various forearm, hand and wrist bones in a proper controlled relationship with respect to each other and to the bowling ball. The muscles, ligaments and tendons are the tissues which control this functional relationship.
The gripping and releasing of the bowling ball, or relative movement of the fingers and thumb, is also important for proper control of the bowling ball. The movements of the fingers (flexion and extension, abduction and adduction) are well known. However, because the thumb has its palmar or flexor surface, in the resting position, at right angles to the palmar surface of the remainder of the hand, its movement planes are generally at right angles to those of the fingers. Thus, flexion of the thumb is bending it across the palm of the hand towards the ulna, extension is a movement in the opposite direction, abduction is moving the thumb away from the index perpendicular to the palmar plane and adduction is returning it towards the palmar plane. The thumb movement of opposition, characteristic of the grasping of objects such as a bowling ball, is a combination of flexion, internal rotation and adduction that brings the palmar surface of the thumb in contact with the palmar surfaces of the fingers. Reposition, the movement away from opposition, would be characteristic of releasing a grip on an object and would involve a combination of abduction, extension and external rotation of the thumb. The rounded contour formed by the muscles of the thumb on the palmar surface is the thenar eminence. For a proper delivery and release of the bowling ball it is necessary that the movement of these muscles, which help to control the movement of the thumb, should not be restricted. The muscular contour formed by the little-finger muscles on the ulnar side of the palmar surface is the hypothenar eminence. The central palmar compartment located between the thenar and hypothenar compartments is often designated the palmar arch. The various types of bowling deliveries and grips, such as conventional, semi-finger-tip, and finger-tip, would involve relative movements of these palmar regions.
Another factor which affects the degree of consistency or control of the delivery is that the bowling ball causes the various muscles, tendons and tissues to be stressed differentially which causes some of them to become fatigued more easily than others.
Various devices have been developed in recent years which attempt to control the relative degree of movement of the hand, wrist and forearm.
Recent patents have been issued which attempt to provide support and control of the bowling ball by combining the features of a palm prop and an insert which covers various portions of the hand and wrist. For example, patents issued to C. Fowler (U.S. Pat. No. 3,564,613), R. Krzewinski (U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,994), Y. Hashimoto (U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,168) and J. Andolino (3,728,738) disclose bowling gloves which incorporate a palm prop and a stiffener insert for the back of the hand.
The present invention relates to a bowling glove which combines the features of an adjustable palm prop with an underlying support plate which is contoured to fit portions of the forearm, wrist and palmar regions of the hand. The palm plate accomplishes the desired results of providing a stable relationship between the forearm, wrist and hand and a support for the palm prop which rests on a distal end of said plate. Another feature of the invention is a back plate which is contoured to support the back of the forearm, wrist and hand. In accomplishing this result, the back plate is designed to avoid contact with various parts of hand, wrist and forearm, such as the styloid process of the ulna. A further feature of the invention is the incorporation of positionable fastening means which allows the glove to fit different relative sizes and shapes of forearms, wrists and hands.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a bowling glove and wrist support which will help to control the relative relationship between the forearm, wrist and hand while bowling.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device which will help stabilize the palmar arch region of the hand while not interfering with the movements of the muscles and tendons of the thenar and/or the hypothenar regions of the hand.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a bowling glove and wrist support with a firm but yeildably resilient palm prop disposed in overlying relation to the palm plate which will help to support the bowling ball and to distribute the stresses applied to the forearm, wrist and hand while bowling.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a bowling glove and wrist support with a back plate to act in cooperation with a palm support and a prop carried in overlying relation to the palm support, wherein such supports will help the bowler achieve a more controlled delivery.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a bowling glove and wrist support with hand attachable means which will position a palm plate in the palmar arch of the hand and a back plate across the back of the hand and wrist.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a bowling glove and wristlet, which encircles the wrist and styloid processes of the radius and ulna, with strap means for adapting the device to fit different sizes and shapes of wrists and hands.